Remember The American Gulag: J6 Prisoner Savagely Beaten After Being Detained Over A Year And A Half Waiting For Trial- Denied Civil Rights
4 min read
A January 6th defendant was “viciously and savagely” beaten by a guard in a Washington, D.C. jail and may lose sight in one eye because of his injuries, one of his lawyers told the CBS affiliate in the city, WUSA-TV in April of 2022.
Ryan Samsel is accused of pushing over barriers and knocking down a police officer – causing her to suffer a concussion – on January 6, 2021, and he has recently been transferred to a different prison, according to court documents.
Samsel is from Bristol, Pennsylvania, in Bucks County, CBS Philadelphia. News went viral about the attack in April, but the news is being circulated again this week due to the update on Samsel’s case.
Samsel has been in federal custody since his arrest in January on charges of ‘forcibly assaulting or interfering with a federal agent, obstructing an official proceeding and obstructing an officer’.
He was transferred on Monday.
Another defendant, Ronald Sandlin, told a federal judge during a bail hearing that Samsel was one of a number of defendants in the case who’d been subjected to violence by D.C. correctional officers.
In an interview with WUSA, Elisabeth Pasqualini said Samsel was “viciously and savagely” beaten by a corrections officer in the D.C. Correctional Treatment Facility after the guard zip-tied Samsel’s hands.
The attack appears, from media reports to have happened in 2021.
Credit: Court filing
The inmate was reportedly attacked three different times in custody, including a serious attack in March 2021. He told a judge last year that he was worried about his medical care behind bars.
In the March 2021 attack, Samsel reportedly suffered a head strike and loss of consciousness, bilateral eye ecchymosis, acute kidney injury, injury of the wrists, fracture of the orbital floor, bilateral facial bilateral nasal bone fracture, and thoracic outlet syndrome.
“Ultimately, as a result of the brutal assault, Mr. Samsel lost vision in his right eye, has suffered seizures, and has continuing pain and suffering in relation to the thoracic outlet syndrome as well as a cystic condition (that may have been aggravated in the assault), and a general lack of follow up care, and rehabilitative care,” Samsel’s attorneys said.
Samsel’s attorney asked the court to not allow a further delay for an outside medical evaluation for the 38-year-old man.
UPDATE
Recent court actions involving Samsel include his transfer from Federal Detention
Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to the Bureau of Prisons facility in Lewsiburg, Pennsylvania.:
Govt notifies the court that Samsel has been transferred back to Lewisburg.https://t.co/qeNuVw71kM
— M & M Enterprises (@sfoguj) September 26, 2022
CBS News reported April 2022, that , Pasqualini said she was only alerted to the alleged attack when two attorneys representing other defendants contacted her and said her client had gotten “a beatdown” by a guard and was in the hospital.
“He has definitely suffered serious injuries, including a shattered orbital floor, a broken orbital bone, his jaw was broken, his nose was broken,” Pasqualini said, adding that Samsel is currently unable to see out of his right eye and may permanently lose vision in it.
Even before the alleged assault, Pasqualini said, her client was being held in lockdown for 23 hours a day and was having a hard time getting access to hygiene supplies and the shower. She said he’s since been moved to another jail, where he remains under lockdown.
Pasqualini said she reported the alleged assault to jail officials, who told her they were conducting an internal investigation. She also reported it to the FBI which, she said, told her it was investigating, as well.
A spokesperson for the FBI’s Washington Field Office told WUSA in an emailed statement that the agency was aware of the allegations but that “as a matter of policy we can neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation.”
According to CBS affiliate- WUSA9- they also reached out to the D.C. Department of Corrections for comment but hadn’t received a response.
Samsel isn’t the first J6 defendant to allege poor conditions during confinement, though his allegations are the most serious.
Last month, alleged Oath Keeper organizer Thomas Caldwell was released on bond in part because, his lawyer said, he’s been confined to a wheelchair as a result of not having access to orthopedic treatment while in custody.
Pasqualini said she doesn’t currently plan to file a motion asking for Samsel’s release because the state of Pennsylvania has a detainer on him due to his status as a parolee on January 6.
Records show Samsel is on parole for an assault conviction from 2016 in Pennsylvania and that there’s a separate warrant for his arrest related to an alleged 2019 assault in New Jersey.
About Pete Santilli
